hsntnovel Chapter 2357: Sad Li Shen
Chapter 2357: Sad Li Shen
Li Shen felt mixed emotions as he looked at the two children in front of him. He had been in Chang'an City for twenty years and he had never seen such skinny children.
Even before he took over his farm, the children there just had pale faces.
It is easy to imagine that these two children probably have never had enough to eat.
When Li Shen saw the seven-year-old girl, a scene suddenly came back to his mind. He thought of Xiaohua.
The orphan he picked up from outside the city, Xiaohua, who was only five years old at the time, was so sensible that it made people feel distressed.
Li Shen still felt a little sad when he thought of the scene of Xiaohua licking the bowl.
Why are there poor people in this world?
Look at the two children in front of you, and then look at the childhood of those playboys in the capital.
They all had greasy faces and fat bodies. For example, his fourth brother was so fat from eating fat pigs that he had difficulty walking.
The Cheng family has seven children, each of them is tall and strong, with a lot of brains.
If the food provided by these wealthy people were to be distributed to these poor children, how many people would have to be fed?
At this point, Li Shen no longer felt any guilt for cheating these wealthy people out of their money, and even considered whether he should go back and cheat them again.
In this way, he can be regarded as eliminating harm for the people and robbing the rich to help the poor.
"Zhang Jia Dalang, do you know that stealing is illegal?"
After calming down, Li Shen asked softly, fearing that a louder voice would scare the two children.
"I know." Zhang Jiadalang nodded.
"Then why did you do this? And bring your sister with you?"
Zhang Jia Dalang thought about it and replied:
"My mother was ill, and I wanted to give her something good to eat. I didn't bring my younger sister with me, and this matter has nothing to do with my younger sister.
If you want to punish someone, punish me. There has to be no one left at home to take care of my mother."
Zhang Jia Dalang begged, and it was obvious that he already knew what kind of punishment he would be given next.
Alas~~~ Li Shen sighed inwardly. He knew that as an elder brother, Zhang Jia Dalang was prepared to take on everything, and that he saved his sister because there was no one to take care of his mother at home.
How could there still be such poor people in Xizhou City? I have developed so many workshops in Xizhou. I can easily find a place to work for a month and it is enough to support my family.
Thinking of this, Li Shen couldn't help but look back at Pei Ziyu. This look made Pei Ziyu's heart tremble, because he saw the coldness in Prince Ji's eyes.
"What's your name?" Li Shen looked at the girl again.
"Erwa."
The little girl said timidly, her voice trembling. She wanted to hide behind her brother, but she pretended to be calm.
The little hand held on to her brother's clothes, as if giving herself great courage.
Li Shen felt pity for the little girl and couldn't help but want to touch her face.
The little girl shrank her head in fear and dodged Li Shen's hand.
Li Shen's hand was empty. He was not embarrassed, but felt a little guilty.
What did he do after coming here?
Extortion, murder and robbery, he didn't do anything serious.
He is the governor of Xizhou and a prince of the Tang Dynasty. At this moment, Li Shen finally understood what was said.
The greater your ability, the greater your responsibility.
The little girl in front of him was extremely thin. She was said to be seven years old, but her body was similar to that of Xiaohua back then.
Xiaohua is a refugee, and this little girl is not as good as Xiaohua during her refugee period.
It's not even as tall as my precious daughter Xixi, who is about five years old now if I count carefully.
The entire lobby fell silent, and everyone could feel Li Shen's emotional changes.
After witnessing the ruthlessness of King Ji just now, no one dared to make a sound.
Li Shen took back his hanging hand and looked at Zhang Jia Dalang:
"Stealing is wrong. Even though you are doing it out of filial piety, the country has its own laws and the family has its own rules.
Filial piety cannot be used as an excuse to violate the law.
Do you know the punishment you will face?"
"My dear sir, I have heard from them that I may have to work for a year." Zhang Jiadalang replied.
After he was arrested, the bailiffs told him what the crime of theft was.
But Li Shen frowned. Didn’t he remember that theft was not punishable by caning?
Li Shen turned around and looked at Wang Xuance, who quickly said:
"According to the Tang Dynasty law, those who steal money shall be punished with fifty lashes, sixty strokes of the cane one foot long, and one additional punishment for each piece of wood stolen. For five pieces of wood, one year's imprisonment."
If we calculate the equivalent exchange rate by converting it into silk, a piece of silk was worth 200 wen in the early Tang Dynasty, but now with the economic expansion, it is worth 400 wen per piece.
Li Shen did not control the price increase of silk because ordinary people would not use it. Ordinary people only had linen, but now cotton was cheap.
They would pay taxes on silk or sell it for money, so the price was higher and the people could earn more.
Those who can afford to wear silk are either rich or noble, and they are not short of a few hundred coins.
But these few hundred coins can support a family for a month.
"How much property did you steal?" Li Shen asked. A year of apprenticeship meant more than five horses.
"This villain doesn't know. I only took a piece of jewelry and sold it for a coin. I bought some meat and candied fruit for my mother."
Zhang Jiadalang replied.
Li Shen turned around and looked at Pei Ziyu again. How could one string of cash lead to a prison sentence?
Alas, Pei Ziyu sighed, saluted and replied:
"Your Highness Prince Ji, that piece of jewelry is made of gold. It weighs at least five ounces of gold, and it is inlaid with gemstones.
Although they are not precious gems, their total value exceeds one hundred strings of cash."
"What did you say? Worth a hundred strings of cash?" Li Shen was surprised. He was not surprised by the value of the jewelry. Five taels of gold was already worth fifty strings of cash.
This does not include the labor costs. The materials of gold and silver jewelry are clearly marked with prices, but the labor costs are not.
The more beautiful the jewelry, the more expensive the craftsmanship. And the prices of gemstones are not fixed.
It is normal to be worth 100 strings of cash.
Li Shen was surprised by how ruthless the person who bought the jewelry was. He was even more ruthless than himself.
He only gave the child one tael of silver out of the hundred taels of silver worth of jewelry, but the risk of theft was borne entirely by the child.
One hundred strings of cash is more than just one year's earnings.
"Erwa, why did you go stealing with your brother?"
Li Shen looked at the girl again.
"Because my mother is sick, my brother said it might not be cured, so he wants to give her a good meal."
The girl replied timidly. She only knew that she had done something wrong, but she didn't know the specific consequences.
In her young mind, everything her brother said was right.
"My dear, could you please not punish my brother?"
Seeing that Li Shen didn't say anything, the girl mustered up her courage, grabbed Li Shen's clothes and looked at him expectantly.
Her bright big eyes were full of pleading. She had just seen how this noble man in front of her punished the bad guys.
She also heard that her brother might be taken away for forced labor.
(I just watched the military parade today, so I posted this.)